


Soul Survivor

by BeccaAnne814



Series: Bucky Barnes x Reader Oneshots [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: A4 Spoilers, Angst, Avengers Endgame Spoilers, F/M, Fluff, endgame spoilers, halloween fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 09:50:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21251441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeccaAnne814/pseuds/BeccaAnne814
Summary: When a person turns sixteen, their soulmate is magically revealed to them.  Teenagers stay up until midnight on the night before their sweet sixteenth to pour over a list of names to see which one will glow, revealing the person they're supposed to spend the rest of their lives with.  On your sixteen birthday, nothing happens, but it's not uncommon for people to spend a few years searching for their soulmates. When you finally find your soulmate's name one Halloween night, everything you ever thought you knew about soulmates comes into question as your whole future begins crashing down around you.  Will you ever find the answer to this mystery or are you destined to be alone forever?





	Soul Survivor

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween! 🎃👻 

_ **Halloween – Brooklyn, Reader, Age 18** _  


"Why are we out here again?" YN asked as she trailed behind her friends in the creepy graveyard. 

"C'mon, YN," Sabina whined. "Lighten up a bit and have some fun."

Macie cast a quick glance over her shoulder and gave YN a wink. "You're not scared, are you?"

Sabina and Macie had been her best friends since grade school, but ever since their Sophomore year when they'd discovered their soulmates, she'd been relegated to being the fifth wheel on their double dates. It wasn't that she didn't like their boyfriends, but she missed the days when it had just been the three of them sitting on one of their couches watching reruns of _The Golden Girls. _ Now that the boys were a part of their group, their evenings together consisted of parties with too-loud music or ridiculous outings such as the one they were currently on.

YN remembered when Halloween meant a giant bowl of popcorn and their annual viewing of _Hocus Pocus _while their parents handed out candy to trick-or-treaters, but this year she was spending the holiday traipsing through a darkened cemetery with a cheap flashlight that barely illuminated the ground in front of her. She knew the boys were trying to get a scare out of Sabina and Macie so the girls would cling to their sides like spider monkeys. YN would've been perfectly fine sitting at home by herself, but she knew her friends felt guilty that she hadn't discovered her soulmate on her sixteenth birthday like everyone else in their class had. 

She could clearly remember that fateful night sitting with her two best friends pouring over their yearbook to see which one of the names would start glowing at midnight. It was rare for soulmates to be born in different parts of the world, but it wasn't unheard of. Everyone knew they might be the exception, but it still came as a shock when YN turned page after page with no sign of her soulmate. She knew it may take her a few years to discover who she was supposed to be with, but until then, she'd had to deal with being the only person in her entire school over the age of sixteen that didn't have a soulmate. 

Her friends had done their best to make her feel like she wasn't missing out on anything, but YN knew better. Nights like this one were a prime example of why it sucked not having a soulmate. Instead of holding her boyfriend's hand as they wound their way through the maze of chipped granite tombstones, she was wading through a sea of fog with a flashlight that seemed to be on its last leg.

When the light dimmed, she smacked the flashlight against her hand and the beam strengthened for a moment before going out completely. With a groan, she closed her eyes and willed herself not to cry. 

Looking up, she tried to see the arcs of light from the other flashlights, but the cemetery was completely dark. She turned a full circle, and just as she was about to call out for Sabina and Macie, something caught her eye.

Cautiously making her way across the uneven ground, she inched closer to the eerie light glowing a few yards ahead of her. As she grew closer, a heavy weight settled into the pit of her stomach. On the tombstone in front of her was a name glowing as brightly as if it were a neon sign.

All at once, anger replaced her fear. "This isn't funny, you guys." She waited a moment for her friends to jump out and start teasing her, but she seemed to be completely alone. She glanced around trying to find her friends as she continued to call out for them. "Sabina! Macie! Come out right now! I'm not falling for your sick little joke!"

Two separate beams of light started bouncing in the night as her friends began racing toward the sound of her voice. YN was surprised that they'd been so far away. She'd have thought they'd want a close-up view of the look on her face when she discovered what they'd done.

"What's wrong?" Sabina asked breathlessly as she came to a stop beside YN. "Are you hurt?"

"Hell yeah I'm hurt," YN said with a pout as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I can't believe you'd do this to me."

"Do what?" Macie asked as she and her boyfriend finally joined the group. "What's going on?"

YN pointed an accusatory finger at the tombstone behind her. "That!"

The boys pointed the flashlights at the granite block and four pairs of eyes read the details before looking back at YN in confusion.

"I don't get it," Sabina said. "What's so special about that grave?"

YN's anger was starting to boil over into pure rage. "It's bad enough that I'm the only one without a soulmate, but to have my two best friends rig up a tombstone with glow-in-the-dark paint on Halloween is going too far. I can't believe you guys would make fun of me like this."

Macie was the first one to figure out what YN was talking about, but it wasn't a pleasant realization. "YN, we didn't paint the tombstone."

"Then why is it glowing?" YN all but screamed.

Sabina's face paled as she stared at the name carved into the stone. "I guess you finally found your soulmate."

YN's eyes grew wide. It couldn't be true. She turned back to the gravestone and reread the dates. There was no way this could be her soulmate—he'd died in 1944. Every few years stories arose of soulmates being found living on different continents, but never once in her entire life had she heard of a soulmate being born in a different century. But what other explanation was there?

Staring at the name of the man she'd been paired with, she whispered, "Who the hell is Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes?"

  


** _Austria - 1943_ **

"I found her, Buck," Steve murmured as he led the liberated prisoners of war back toward the outpost he'd deserted the day before. He'd just risked his life to save his best friend and the rest of the 107th from HYDRA, but that was inconsequential compared to the news he was about to share.

"Found who, Stevie?"

Steve couldn't keep the stupid grin off his face. "My soulmate."

Even though he felt as though he'd been run over by a truck, Bucky couldn't help but be elated by Steve's proclamation. Slapping his friend on the back, he said, "That's great, pal. Let me guess, she's a nurse?"

A blush settled over Steve's features as he thought about Peggy. "Nope. She's an SSR Agent and tough as nails. I once saw her knock a guy out with a single punch during training. She's British, which explains why it took so long to find her."

"A Brit?" Bucky asked in disbelief. "Huh. Guess that makes sense. A lot of guys in my division have said they found their soulmates since the war started. Just goes to show we know nothing about how the universe works."

Steve gave Bucky a sad smile. "I'm sure you'll find your girl soon."

Bucky brushed aside Steve's concern as he stretched out his arms with a huge smile on his face. "Who needs a soulmate when there's a war going on? Plenty of single dames out here with no soulmates yet—it's a bachelor's dream come true."

"You don't mean that." Steve sighed as he looked over at his best friend since childhood. He remembered how devastated Bucky had been on his sixteenth birthday when he hadn't found his soulmate. They'd poured over the entire class list three times hoping it was just a fluke. But as more and more of their classmates began turning sixteen, they'd realized Bucky wasn't alone when it came to be soulmate-less. 

When the war broke out, some of them had assumed the worst and figured they wouldn't need a soulmate since they wouldn't be returning home from Europe. Steve had actually hoped that was the case for him since, like Bucky, he hadn't found his soulmate at sixteen. But Fate had had other plans for him. Now that he'd found Peggy, he finally felt as though life was worth living.

  


** _Halloween – Brooklyn, Reader, Age 21_ **

"Hey, Bucky," YN said as she sat cross-legged on the ground in front of the tombstone. She put the little bouquet of flowers into the vase she'd placed there a few years ago when she'd started making regular visits to her soulmate's grave. 

"I convinced the government to give me some more information on you last month, and this time it wasn't redacted all to hell."

Since she'd discovered her soulmate in a graveyard, she'd made it her mission to find out as much about him as she could. Once the government had discovered her predicament, they'd agree to exchange information on Sgt. James B. Barnes in return for her cooperation in a life-long study to determine why she and her soulmate had been born decades apart. 

Scientists in the twentieth century had made it their life's work to discover how the soulmate bond worked, but in all of their studies, they'd never once come across a case such as hers. She was a scientific marvel when it came to the soulmate phenomenon, and while she didn't like the invasive tests she'd subjected herself to, she was glad to find out more information about the man she was supposed to have spent her entire life with.

"So, it turns out that you're not actually here," she told Bucky with a huge smile. "All this time, I thought your bones were resting peacefully below me, but apparently your body was never recovered from the Austrian Alps."

She waited a few moments before finally voicing her theory out loud. "I can't help but think that maybe you're not really dead." She couldn't believe she'd actually spoken the words out loud, but now that she had, she felt her heart start to race. "I mean, you'd be an old man right now, but wouldn't it be cool to finally meet? I know you have no clue who I am, but you've probably spent your whole life thinking you didn't have a soulmate. I have a feeling the government knows more than they're letting on, and I'm hoping that if I continue to play their games, they'll finally tell me the truth."

Reaching out, she traced the glowing letters of Bucky's name. As hard as it was to know her soulmate may be lost to her forever, she took comfort in the fact the whole world considered him a hero. "Sabina and her husband are throwing a huge Halloween party tonight. I found a picture of Captain America and Agent Carter in one of my files, so I'm dressing up like her. Well, not her exactly, but that style. I know it's silly, but I like to imagine what it would've been like if I'd been born a few decades earlier and we'd actually gotten a chance to meet."

Starting to tear up, she took a deep breath and rearranged the flowers. "I should probably get going—it's going to get dark soon." She rose and brushed a hand along the top of his tombstone. "I'll be back soon."

  


** _Austrian Alps - 1944_ **

"I had him on the ropes," Bucky said.

Without turning to look at him, Steve replied, "I know you did."

The sound of a HYDRA cannon powering up behind them had dread settling into Bucky's gut. Before he knew what was happening, Steve was screaming at him to get down as he shoved Bucky behind him. The cannon went off with a ear-piercing boom and Bucky felt as though he'd been hit by a ton of bricks as he began flying backwards.

There was a hole in the side of the car where Steve's shield had deflected the blast. Steve was lying on the other side, so without thinking of the consequences, Bucky leaned down and grabbed the shield as he began to open fire on their assailant. He could hear Zola's voice through the intercom and it did nothing but fuel his rage.

He'd underestimated the force of the cannon blast as it ripped the shield from his hand and sent him hurtling through the hole in the side of the train. Somehow he'd managed to grab ahold of the railing along the twisted remnants of the train car, but the force of the wind from the speeding train was making it difficult to hold on.

Steve must have taken out the guy with the cannon because it was just a few moments before he appeared in the jagged opening. Bucky could barely hear him calling out to him as he began to inch his way toward him. Steve held out a hand and Bucky tried to reach for it, but the railing he was holding onto began to give way. With a scream, the bar came loose and his stomach plummeted from the sensation of being weightless as he began free-falling through the frigid winter air.

As the train with Steve's agonized face began to fade in the distance, Bucky's last thought was of his non-existent soulmate. For all of his bravado, he'd secretly hoped that he might find her someday. But it seemed as though—like all the other unlucky schmucks who'd died in this war—he didn't have a soulmate since Fate had decided he wouldn't make it home to live out the rest of his life with her.

  


** _Brooklyn – 2016_ **

"Captain America's alive!" YN all but screamed as she plopped down on Bucky's grave and changed out the flowers in his vase. "And he looks exactly the same as he did back in 1945." She shook her head and exhaled loudly. "I have no idea what this means, or if it even means anything, but you're the first person I wanted to tell."

She took a deep breath and reached out to trace over the familiar lines of his name that still glowed as brightly as it had that first Halloween night. "I know I shouldn't get my hopes up, but I keep thinking there has to be a reason why you and I are soulmates. The Captain has been frozen in the Arctic for almost seventy years, so maybe you're frozen on that mountain in Austria. I'm going to try to convince the government to go looking for you. It's the least they can do after all they'd put me through." 

She thought back to the dozens of MRIs and CAT scans she'd been subjected to over the years. The doctors and scientists were no closer to discovering the reason why soulmates existed, or why a soulmate's name glowed only for them, but she'd done her part. The government didn't like not knowing why the world worked the way it did, but she knew everyone would rest easier knowing that her soulmate hadn't died decades before she'd ever been born. Soulmates were a comfort to one another, and no parent wanted to face the possibility of their child ending up with a soulmate that was long dead.

Shaking her head, she dismissed her negative thoughts and focused on the idea of somehow finding Bucky alive. Letting the different possibilities play out in her mind, she sat in silence with a smile on her face. As she daydreamed about finally meeting the handsome man she'd only seen in pictures, she never once thought about the more sinister reasons why her soulmate might still be alive.

  


** _Brooklyn – 2023_ **

Bucky stood in front of his tombstone with his hands buried in the pockets of his jacket. It was a surreal experience to be looking at his own grave, but he'd felt compelled to see it for himself. Not everyone could say they'd cheated death—not once, but twice.

In all the years since he'd been freed from HYDRA, he'd wondered about his soulmate. He and Steve had spent a good bit of time discussing that topic during their Skype sessions while he'd been hiding out in Wakanda. It hadn't seemed fair that Steve had found Peggy only to lose her twice in one lifetime.

When Steve had posed the idea of using the Quantum Tunnel to go back to be with her, Bucky had immediately known that's how it was always supposed to have turned out. He hated saying goodbye to his friend again, but Bucky knew how hard it was to live without a soulmate. In the brief moments of lucidity during his time with HYDRA he always wondered what his life would be like if he ever escaped.

It had been years since he'd finally realized his dream of breaking free of HYDRA's hold, but it had seemed as though Fate hadn't destined anyone to be his other half. He'd thought it was for the best, though—with all the baggage he carried, no woman deserved to be saddled with a man like him. 

But now that he stared down at the flowers in the vase before him, he saw her name glowing on the card tucked between the fragrant blooms. He'd wanted to reach out and grab that small tangible piece of her—but he'd been terrified it was simply a trick of the light. He'd stuffed his hands into his pockets to keep himself from doing what he longed to do, but with each passing moment, he couldn't deny the truth of the matter.

He had a soulmate, and she knew who he was.

The sound of leaves crunching underfoot alerted him to the fact that he wasn't alone. Turning around, he spotted a woman walking toward him with a small bouquet of flowers. 

YN couldn't believe her eyes as she stood rooted to the ground a few yards away from her soulmate.

Bucky.

Bucky Barnes was standing right in front of her after all these years.

For far too long she'd dreamed of this moment, but now that it was finally here, she couldn't remember a single thing she'd wanted to say or do. Learning about his years of torture with HYDRA had broken her heart, and her dreams of a happy reunion had faded quickly, but she hadn't been deterred. The government had turned on her—something about war criminals and patriotic images to uphold—but she'd persisted.

She'd made it a daily routine to visit Bucky's grave in the hope that someday he might show up, even though she knew that possibility was slim. He was a wanted criminal and visiting his own grave would be foolhardy, but that had never stopped her from coming each day in the hopes of finally meeting him.

It hadn't been until a few weeks ago that she'd learned he'd been one of the ones who'd been Snapped away, but she'd been thrilled to see his name glowing on her computer screen alongside the other Avengers who'd been heralded as heroes for defeating Thanos and returning the world to its rightful state.

And now he was standing in front of her with a look of shock on his face that she knew mirrored hers. Swallowing hard, she took a step forward and saw relief settle over his handsome features.

"Hello, Bucky."

His gaze shifted down to the flowers by his grave as he rubbed the back of his neck. "You must be YN."

Sighing, she dropped her head and chuckled. "Well, this isn't awkward at all."

Hearing her laugh was a balm to his soul. It was both new and familiar at the same time which he knew didn't make any sense. But in that moment, he finally felt a sense of peace he'd been searching for his entire life. 

Giving her his most charming smile, he said, "I guess it's easier when you're sixteen—not so much when you're over a hundred."

"I'm not exactly a teenager myself," she agreed as she returned his smile. 

His face turned somber. "I'm sorry you spent so many years thinking you didn't have a soulmate."

"Oh, I knew who you were," she pointed out quickly. "I found your grave on Halloween a few years after my sixteenth birthday. I pretty much convinced myself that you were still alive somewhere because Fate couldn't be that cruel." As she remembered what he'd endured for all those years, her eyes filled with tears. "But I guess Fate was cruel after all, wasn't she?"

"I can't complain too much," Bucky disagreed. "It wasn't fun, but at least we're getting the chance to meet one another now."

The awkward feeling that had faded a moment before came rushing back. "This definitely would've been easier at sixteen."

"Right?"

She laughed. "What do we do now? Run to the courthouse and get married?"

He pretended to consider her proposal for a moment. "Well, we might not be sixteen, but that doesn't mean we have to rush into this. I figure we should at least take a few days to get to know one another before we jump into marriage."

His sense of humor came as a surprise to her. All the years of research on Bucky Barnes had given her a vague idea of what he'd be like, but meeting him in person was better than anything she'd ever learned from the redacted reports. "Of course—two or three days should do it." She gave him a smirk. "A week, tops."

"Sounds like a plan, doll."

The pet name rolled off his lips so easily, it was as though he'd called her that for her entire life. Her heart was so full, it was as though it might burst from sheer happiness. 

Bucky had no idea what the future held, but in the few moments he'd been around YN, he'd started to believe that it wouldn't be as dull and boring as he'd feared. Reaching out a hand, he held his breath to see if she'd take it. They weren't naive kids ready to jump in head-first, but they'd both been waiting a lifetime to get to this moment.

When she slipped her hand into his without a moment's hesitation, everything clicked into place. YN had been the missing piece of the puzzle that was his life, and feeling the warmth of her hand resting snuggly in his own felt right in a world that had seemed so wrong for all his life. 

He couldn't wait to tell Steve—the old punk would feel better about kicking the bucket knowing that Bucky would be well taken care of after he was gone. And if the truth be told, it would be easier to say goodbye to his oldest friend knowing that he wouldn't have to spend the rest of his life with only Wilson for company. He may have only just met YN, but she was his soulmate. She'd spent her entire adult life loving a man she'd thought was dead, so he had a feeling it wouldn't be too hard to love one who'd hit the century mark a few years back.

As they walked out of the cemetery, he gave her hand a squeeze and was rewarded with a beaming smile. YN was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, and he couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life making her smile.

___________________

**Author's Note:**

> _Thank you for reading this story! I hope you enjoyed it! I found this prompt last year, but life was too crazy for me to get this story written. . .and now I’m glad. Adding in that bit about Steve and Peggy was the missing piece I’d been looking for all this time! This is the first soulmate story I’ve written (I think. . .🤔), but when I read that prompt, I knew it was meant to be a Bucky story! What would you have done if you’d found your soulmate’s name carved into a tombstone? Would you have held out hope that Fate would somehow bring you two together, or would you have moved on with your life thinking you were destined to be alone? I have no idea what the future holds for Bucky, but now that F&TWS has started filming, I’m excited to see what Marvel has in store for our favorite brainwashed assassin! I look forward to your comments, and if you enjoyed this story, please consider leaving Kudos!_


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